Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Terry Childs Files $3M Suit Against City of San Francisco

The network administrator who was jailed for allegedly holding San Francisco's city government network hostage has filed a US$3 million claim against the city.

Terry Childs made national headlines last year, when he was arrested after refusing to hand over the passwords he used to the wide area network that he managed for the city. Childs eventually did comply, giving the information to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, but he has remained in jail since his July 12 arrest, held on a $5 million bond. He faces seven years in prison if convicted.

His $3 million claim for damages was filed with the city on Jan. 8, and was first reported by the San Francisco Examiner on Wednesday. "The claim alleges that the city and county of San Francisco, through the manager that Terry worked for ... made claims that resulted in his wrongful arrest," said Childs' lawyer, John Prentice.

Childs, formerly a network administrator with the city's Telecommunications and Information Services (DTIS), had argued that the department's staff was incompetent and that the mayor was the only person qualified to handle the passwords.